The time was escaping the team quite rapidly which meant that there was no real time for celebration. Both Bull and Benny understood this. They made it a vow to appreciate the moment when the case was settled and their jobs were no longer on the line. Yet their happiness was impossible to shake. To those still in the dark about the secret to their madness, only assumed that the two were high on life after assisting with the birth.
Still, work went on, having court in the morning everybody went back to what they were doing before the event. Both Danny and Cable covered every inch of the broker division employee roister, Marissa created an algorithm that matched the jury pool with the victims of the scan. Benny, with Bull's help finally cracked the secret to their success.
They needed jurors that weren't sheep, not blind followers to brands or organisations. Together the two compiled a list of questions that aimed to separate the desirable jurors.
Court hadn't begun with the best start. The residing judge, Judge Partuba held a grudge against Bull and kicked him from the court room to avoid - in his words, 'jury manipulation'. Following some heckling from the opposition and a fruitless attempt at getting the judge to recuse himself; Benny began with his line of questioning.
He relayed the list of questions that he'd committed to memory, asking specific questions about brand loyalty. Benny thought that he'd done a pretty good job of it, only choosing jurors that dined at 'mom and pop' restaurants and those that shop at independent book stores.
Together with this final selection and Marissa's algorithm, the team could begin running through a series of mock court sessions. Marissa also programmed the system to select a a list of suitable witnesses.
"How's about we turn this into a competition, boiler room style?" Bull suggested, peeking everybody's attention.
"What's in this for us?" Marissa asked, very intrigued by the idea of a little friendly competition.
Bull though long and hard before answering, "a five thousand dollar bonus." Faces lit up around the room as each member of the team envisioned how they would spend such a sum of money. Marissa would put it in her savings, Chunk towards his daughter's education and Benny thought about buying himself a car; something he knew that he'd be needing before long.
"What about Erin? She brought us the case." Benny suggested. Bull refrained from sighing overtly. In some twisted sort of way he felt slightly jealous about the attention that Benny had been dedicating to this new crush of his. He wasn't entirely sure why it bothered him so much, potentially concerned about his child having a future mother? Or was it the fact that Benny was dating somebody. For now he blamed his displeasure on the inappropriate and unprofessional nature of their endeavours.
"From Erin's demeanour the jury will find her a novice in investment. At best the jury will believe that she was pressured into putting money into the stocks, but that there was no fraud."
"I'll prep her, it'll be good to get her story out."
"She can make a victim impact statement when we win." Bull shot back, frustrated by Benny's persistence. "However, in the spirit of competition, Erin is officially your candidate." Bull raised a brow, "Prove me wrong." He challenged.
Given the next hour to prepare, the team each selected an ideal candidate and plead their case. Having listened to the suggestions given by his most trustworthy colleagues it became abundantly clear that he needed to head in a completely different direction.
"See what the promise of money has done to you? You all emphasised the positives and downplayed the negatives." The group all gaze at each other feeling caught out.
"So who won?" Cable asked.
"None of you. Yet. I'll have to see how they do after witness prep."
"Well, you need somebody to lead with, how about Erin?"
"Doesn't set the right tone...let her down gently."
The whole competition had been a waste of time, as the team would find out when Sophia Dern turned up at the office, steaming with fury. Shoving the subpoena in Benny's face angrily leaving him and Chunk a tad confused.
"Who are you and why did you send me this subpoena?" She scorned. Chunk shrugged when Benny turned to him for some insight.
After giving the letter a read Benny replied, "You were a stock broker for Brannagin Trust which means that you have information essential for the case." He explained himself.
Bull and Marissa watched from the sidelines as the woman flipped her switch and storm out of the building. Kicking over trash cans and needlessly crying out with distress.
The team set to run through as many mock trails as they could over the next few hours until court resumed the following afternoon. In the next few hours the team worked tirelessly but nothing they tried achieved a unanimous vote after deliberation.
Benny was exhausted. Running on very little sleep and an empty stomach, he couldn't continue with the trials much longer. Bull called a break after seeing Benny swaying hopelessly.
"You need to eat." Bull demanded, "I need you to eat." He changed his tone, feeling empathetic. Nobody had gotten much sleep in the last few days but Benny of all people needed to maintain his health.
"I'm not feeling it." So far he'd not been sick, all day. It felt like such an achievement. That being said, it doesn't mean that he was feeling better, no, by all means. The nausea came in waves, throwing Benny close to the edge, only wishing he'd throw up and feel better.
"I don't want to bother you but it's not good for the baby if you starve yourself." Bull had a duty to care for his crew but more importantly, Benny now had a second life to consider, Bull needed to offer a grater deal to protect Benny.
"I'm sorry but I don't know if I can manage..." Benny ate occasionally. When he got home from working he might have a sandwich if his stomach was stable enough. Still, not eating made him incredibly guilty.
"I'm going to the Chinese place across the street and I'll bring you something back. In the meantime, take a nap." Bull threw Benny a blanket. Seeing as he never really went home, the office was conveniently stocked with pillows and sheets. Not forgetting the worn in padding of the sofa making a comfy resting space.
"I've never been so tired, I just want to sleep where I drop." Even when running on fumes during the exam period of his BAR, did he not feel so exhausted. Coupled with the coffee withdrawal, he had no way to raise his energy levels.
"I don't pity you, that's for sure. I do, however, thank you for doing this."
"What's another six months?" Benny replied sarcastically.
"That's the spirit!" Bull grabbed his jacket, "I'm off. If anybody asks, you know where to find me." Bull left and Benny made himself at home, having fluffed a pillow and shimmied under a blanket, he drifted off.
Bull was gone for nearly half an hour and marched back into the office with a box pied high with a surprise meal for his hard working team. Benny's pregnancy hyped sense of smell alerted him to the warm Chinese all the way from the elevator.
He was positively starving.
Hair slightly skewiff, shirt unkempt and shoe-less, Benny joined the others to chow down. Bull had remembered everyone's favourite orders, a chicken fried rice and beef in black-bean sauce for Chunk, two portions of prawn chow mien for Danny and Marissa, vegetarian Singapore noodles and spring rolls for Cable and duck chow mien for Benny. Having ordered so much, the restaurant gave Bull two free portions of prawn crackers and a bottle of pop.
Like hungry scavengers, the team ripped open the box and grabbed what was theirs. Danny and Cable ate using chopsticks and the others with a fork, this always sprung impromptu lessons trying to teach the majority how to use the Asian utensils.
"Thanks Doctor B." Cable spat through a mouth full of food.
Benny unfolded his box and stabbed his fork into the noodles, he hesitated before shovelling in his food. Having barely eaten enough over the last few days, it felt immensely great to fill his stomach - even if it was with greasy Chinese food.
He'd eaten and felt fine, he found that sensation hard to trust. An hour had passed and he was still helping himself to the prawn crackers, eating them like a bag of crisps. The merriment was suspicious. Benny thought it might have something to do with the fact that he'd finally made up his mind. Not only did he feel better, but also not as stressed. The weight of the decision had been lifted and the anxiety no longer upset his stomach.
An early dinner came to an end and the team went back to work. Benny left mock court to Bull - as per the big man's request - so he could work on the opening statements.
The team retired for the night at eight and everyone but Bull went home, the legal team were to reconvene at court and the others back at TAC first thing in the morning.
Chunk caught up with Benny outside the TAC building, as Benny attempted to hail a taxi. "Hey, how you doing today? You seem better." it'd been the first real opportunity for Chunk to clear the air.
"I'm sorry about the other day, it's these pregnancy hormones making me crazy." Already, even before this first trimester was over, he'd cried more often than at any point of his life. The other day he'd almost broken down in the ice cream section of the supermarket when the store assistant had informed him that they were no longer stocking his favourite flavour of Friendly's, the blackberry swirl. It was therefore understandable that he reacted in such a volatile nature.
"Nah, you don't need to apologise. I was just worried about you." More so, angry with Bull for being knowingly insensitive. "You and Doctor Bull aren't pissed off with each other, what changed?"
"After being stuck in the elevator the other night I realised that I'd regret getting an abortion."
"See, I knew you would!" Chunk laughed. He'd been saying so since the day that he'd found out, now not only was he happy for his friend's revelation, but also loved being right.
"Yeah, yeah." Benny rolled his eyes accepting defeat.
"I'm happy for you." Chunk paused, slightly envious that Beny was having this baby with Bull and not himself. After all, he'd take better care of the two of them than Bull would - and he'd love and be loyal to Benny, "Both of you." He added. "I'm here for you, if you need to talk about anything or if you need somebody to go to the hospital with."
"I'll hold you to that." Benny said sarcastically.
Back home, Benny picked out a suit for the morning and a matching tie so that he could save some time when he woke up to have something to eat. Benny spent some time before crashing, to rehearse the opening statement he had planned, in the mirror. He'd gotten the speech down, including the delivery all before 10PM.
The alarm clock rang at six thirty the following morning and Benny jumped in the shower. He kept it brief, just washing his hair and scrubbing himself down. He packed a few snack pots of granola - having swapped his dry snack from crackers to dry cereal based granola. It was far less dry and had a better nutrients content.
The pre-court jitters were kicking in but Benny was a professional, he'd done this countless times. Then again, he'd never worked on a case where so much was at stake. He prepared a bottle of lemon water, sensing the impending nausea that had peeked the moment his nerves had. The last thing he wanted was to be far too ill to appear in court.
He'd begun to hate the commute to work, it completely unsettled his stomach no matter the time of day. Short of fixing all of the roads across the city or flying to work, he'd have to live with the torture.
When he arrived at the courthouse he met Bull at the top of the steps before heading inside. Together they took their seats in the populating room. Benny waited eagerly for Erin to turn up, every now and then he searched for her, trying not to catch Bull's attention.
And then she walked in, flustered and blown about by the wind. Benny thought that she looked beautiful. He stood to welcome her to his side. Bull glared, confused. He hadn't given Benny permission to offer up the empty chair, and especially after he'd told Benny that Erin didn't give off the right impression. Bull was a little annoyed by Benny's school boy attitude.
When the session commenced, Benny got up and delivered his opening statement, looking back at Erin the entire time for her approval rather than that of his boss.
When that was over the judge called for the first witness to come up to the bench. Benny looked over to Bull, flustered. Their witness hadn't shown up, despite the subpoena.
"I'd like to request a warrant for the arrest of Sophia Dern for failure to appear."
"I'll grant the warrant. The court will give the claimant one hour to find Miss Dern." The judge slammed his gable and the room dispensed.
"What are we going to do?" Benny exclaimed. This being Bull's witness, Benny looked to him to make this right. An incident like this would be a detriment to the case. With nobody ready or worthy to stand in, it'd be impossible to carry on. Had the judge not been mad at Bull and by extension - his team, they'd have been given greater leeway.
"Just do whatever you can to stall until I get back." Bull had an idea, but he'd need every single second of the hour that the judge had granted. Bull disappeared leaving Benny and Erin alone and quite frankly anxious.
"What are we going to do if he doesn't come back in time?" Erin asked anxiously.
"I don't know...I mean...the only thing we could do is get somebody else to testify. But nobody's been through the witness prep and-" He began before being cut off by Erin's excited interjection.
"Use me! Nobody knows as much about this case as I do. Surely the jury want to hear from a victim first anyway." She exclaimed.
"You haven't had any preparation." Benny argued hesitantly.
"We've got time!" She pleaded. Having been told that she wouldn't be making an appearance, she jumped at the chance to help out especially if it meant 'sticking it to the man'. "If you've ever taught fith grade, an hour is basically an eternity."
"Ok-" Erin grabbed Benny by the collar and pulled him forward for a lustful and passionate kiss. She'd been so thankful for the opportunity that kissing Benny had been the only fitting way to express her feelings.
It started with a small peck that escalated to something much heavier when Benny hadn't pulled away. Easing into the embrace, Benny moved his hands to her face and cupped Erins's cheeks. Benny had thought about this moment, but rather than pure bliss, it felt bitter-sweet. Hence why he began pulling away.
Not only was Erin a client of which fraternising with was against his ethical code of conduct, but he could hardly imagine starting to date in his current condition. Yet, he deserved to be happy and he'd already developed romantic feelings. It was all rather confusing.
The kissing had ended leaving the two slightly giddy.
Benny had given his best attempt to prepare Erin for court, although he desperately wished that he hadn't. He should have trusted Bull's judgment and kept Erin away from the stand.
The opposition's lawyers tore down Benny's chance at a defence, having perfectly nailed Erin as a fool, somebody easily entrapped just like Bull had predicted. Erin was caught off guard at every turn, being ambushed by questions based on information that Benny didn't even have. It was humiliating for the both of them. Their failure in court reflected their success back at TAC - the board was red, it'd be hard to claw their way back.
Bull was beyond furious. The team were lucky that he'd been able to track down Sophia and trick her into appearing at the courthouse. She'd performed fantastically on the stand, her ferocious testimony saw a complete improvement in the scores back at TAC. It still wasn't enough, but Bull was adamant that they'd win no matter how.
Bull took himself and Benny somewhere private, "Were you not listening to a single thing that i said before?" Bull asked angrily. "What were you thinking, putting Erin on the stand?"
"I'm sorry, you told me to stall but I couldn't stall any longer." The truth being that he hadn't even tried to stall, rather he honestly believed that he'd prove himself and Erin's capability instead. "I thought that she'd do better. Come on, we just started our attack and Sophia's testimony went well."
"Not well enough. Your feelings for Erin have clouded your judgment, because of that we need to up our game" Bull said firmly. A part of his own conscience blamed his ignorance, he shouldn't have left Benny to deal with the situation alone, knowing exactly how Benny's feelings had already impacted the case, "I need agro Benny - Pitt Bull!"
He'd honestly would have been distraught with Bull's accusations, had they not been true, "Alright...I hear you." Benny was guilty enough as it was but incredibly thankful that Bull hadn't pressed any more on the issue.
"Do you?" Bull reiterated holding the door for Benny.
"Yes! Alright." He'd give Pitt Bull his best shot, with his energy draining pretty quickly. Yet he owed Bull his full commitment.
The team's next move was to call Brian Fuller to the stand, to cross examine him and bombard the defence with Benny's aggressive tactics. Hot headed Benny pushed the judge's patients to its limits in order to prove a point on the stand. By the end, he was warned to stand down. He was a little short of satisfied with his line of questioning but he got the job done and Bull was especially pleased with how things turned out. Although, it would take a little more persuasion to convince the last juror to see their line of reasoning.
Court had adjourned for a lengthy lunch break, giving the jurors some time to catch a break. Benny took this time to speak to Erin about their kiss earlier this morning.
"I think we need to talk." Benny breathed, "about earlier. That kiss shouldn't have happened."
"But is was fun wasn't it?" Erin leaned in, trying to allure Benny into another kiss. He pulled away, turning his head and taking a step backwards.
"We can't be doing that again. It's unprofessional...you're a client and you're going through a great deal at the moment and I shouldn't take advantage of you." Dating a client went against his code of ethics, it was seriously frowned upon and he should have known better than to lead himself on. Not only that, but Erin was angry and emotional having been through such an ordeal, using this vulnerability was an outrageous move.
"Oh. I thought that you liked me?" Erin appeared hurt by Benny's fast backtrack.
"I do...had the circumstances been different..." He replied in an effort to let Erin down easy. Afterall, he had genuine feelings for Erin but it was highly inappropriate at this time to act upon them - and this wasn't just because of Bull's influence.
"Maybe its just that you can't handle being in a relationship." Erin snarled, storming away angrily. Benny hated the way that he'd left things but saw no other option. Things couldn't have continued.
Suddenly plagued by a series of cramps he took a walk to get some fresh air. The gut wrenching pain brought tears to his eyes. At times like this he had to ask himself how he'd cope with giving birth, with such a low pain threshold. He walked all around the courthouse and around the grounds for about half an hour before the pain began to numb. Although, he had doubts that this tranquil would last for very long.
The emotional rollercoaster that had been today had upset his stomach and so he no longer imagined stomaching the lunch he'd already prepared. Instead he ate two of his granola snack pots and a whole sliced apple. Together they gave him the small boost of energy he needed and eased his nausea somewhat.
He hadn't seen Bull so far this lunch which was entirely odd. Usually they'd spend this time going over what would happen next making sure that they were entirely ready. Not a phone call or a text message so far. Benny was then made to contemplate the idea that Bull was still mad at him for earlier. That or he was orchestrating something slightly out of line.
When court resumed the atmosphere was different. Bull had meddled with the jury and as a result, kicked out of the courtroom and Benny came close to being disbarred. The two had received a bollocking but their usual good luck had saved them from any real repercussions. Regardless, the team spun the events in their favour. Benny did his part and gave the closing statement. From there on, things were out of the team's hands. The jury were to deliberate until they reached a verdict.
Back at TAC the team paced nervously. Marissa had lectured Bull about his reckless behaviour when so much was on the line. Spending for this case was almost triple what they'd first estimated – a total sum of money far beyond their ability to pay back.
It took the jury five hours to come to a conclusion – Brannagin Trust was guilty of committing fraud.
The courthouse exploded with cheers, the victims sitting in the gallery were ecstatic. Big had not beaten Small, all those who were stolen of retirement funds and savings were set to receive payouts to compensate, giving many their hope back. Camera crews were lined in the streets to capture the moment.
Chunk pulled Benny aside having caught wind of the tension between him and Erin, "You should be careful you know." Benny rolled his eyes at Chunk's inadvertent accusations.
"I like her, but I'm in a delicate part of my life right now, so no – it's not going to happen." His own emotions severely impacting his judgment, now was not a good time to start a relationship with somebody. Especially when the foundations would be built on a lack of truth. "This whole baby thing would make dating too complicated." Benny scoffed.
"What about Bull, you think that you and he are gonna get together now that you're having his baby." Chunk didn't really know if he wanted an answer. Should Benny say yes, it'd probably be quite heartbreaking.
"It's not like that." Benny had gotten over the thrill and no longer really thought about his drunken blunder. At this moment in time, his feelings for Bull were completely platonic. "Besides, I'm sure that he's seeing someone. I reckon it's Diana, but he'd never tell me." It had been obvious that Bull was seeing somebody. Although it appeared sparingly, every other weekend or so at first, Bull would fly under the radar more often than before. More often than not, he'd be unreachable from Friday night to Sunday evening.
"This mystery woman could end up your kid's step-mum. Aren't you worried?"
"Nah, Bull's allowed to see whoever he wants." Benny wasn't concerned, he and Bull weren't going to be together, they weren't in love. If Bull had found 'the one' then it'd be unfair to hold him back. Regardless, whoever Bull committed to, it wouldn't be anybody riskay – he wasn't that kind of guy.
"I don't envy you." Chunk laughed.